A total of 52 Air Force personnel and 28 Army territorials are in Tauranga for a fortnight cleaning up the sandy beaches and rocky foreshores of Papamoa, Mauao and Motiti Island and Matakana Island. The Air Force was yesterday focusing its efforts on Papamoa East, Motiti and Mauao, including a team taking advantage of the hot sun to remove the worst of the bitumen-type oil coating rocks above the high tide line - rocks hit by the two storm surges since Rena grounded.
What they were unable to get off would eventually disappear from being pounded by the sea.
A third group was sifting through Mauao's shell beaches to find deposits of oil, with the painstaking work broken by the welcome distractions of a couple of fur seals and a pod of killer whales going past.
Warrant Officer Steve McCutcheon from the RNZAF said that in the first four days since the latest group of defence force volunteers began removing oil last Friday, they had picked up two and half tonnes of oil-impregnated sand. He said it was an excellent result that reflected the discipline and work ethic of the young men and women.
Mr McCutcheon said scarcely any oil had been left behind by the receding tide on the sandy beaches during the last two days - just a few oil marbles that could be scooped up by butterfly nets.
Helping to supervise the flushing trial yesterday was Peter Braddock from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
